#1. Shanghai
Shanghai, on China’s central coast, is the country's biggest city and a global financial hub. Its heart is the Bund, a famed waterfront promenade lined with colonial-era buildings. Across the Huangpu River rises the Pudong district’s futuristic skyline, including 632m Shanghai Tower and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, with distinctive pink spheres. Sprawling Yu Garden has traditional pavilions, towers and ponds.
Nanjing Road is the city’s longtime shopping thoroughfare, with a range of stores that are brightly lit at night. It leads to expansive People’s Square, where the Shanghai Museum displays carved jade, calligraphy and other traditional Chinese arts. Longhua Temple is a large complex known for its ornate Song dynasty pagoda. The French Concession, home of the city’s French population from 1849 to 1943, offers tree-lined streets, art deco buildings and hip boutiques, cafes and bars. Shanghai’s native cuisine features specialties such as xiaolongbao (steamed dumplings), hairy crabs and drunken chicken.
Thirty years ago Shànghai's dour restaurant scene was all tin trays and scowling waiting staff, with international food confined to the dining rooms of 'exclusive' hotels. Today the mouth-watering restaurant scene is varied, exciting and up to the minute – and Shànghai has its own Michelin dining guide in 2017, proving just how far the city has come. Food is the hub of Chinese social life. It’s over a meal that people catch up with friends, celebrate and clinch business deals, and spend hard-earned cash. Some of your best memories of the city could be culinary, so do as the Shanghainese do and make a meal of it.